This reporter is back home from his week in New Zealand and could not say enough wonderful things about his time there. Eden Park was electric for the two matches this reporter attended and he can’t wait to go back.
While this reporter was on the 16-hour flight from Auckland back to Chicago, three matches took place in addition to the three from the previous day. All but Colombia and South Korea at the time of this typing have played. Let’s go through some talking points thus far in the tournament in random order:
1. EDEN PARK: Over 113,000 fans have attended the three matches so far in Auckland which included the opening match, the USA’s first match, and Italy-Argentina. Initial worries about the lack of ticket sales in New Zealand compared to Australia have been allayed for the time being.
2. SKY SPORTS NZ: This is initially a thumbs down after Sky Sports New Zealand have (until recently) just played off the international feed for the games, including New Zealand’s opener. Compared to Australia having the Seven Network broadcasting some of the games (the rest on Optus Sport in Australia), that is kind of phoning it in in terms of coverage.
3, DEBUTANTES: All eight debutantes have played. All eight have lost. All eight have yet to score a goal so far. Some looked better than others such as Haiti (only losing 1-0 to England), Vietnam (only losing 3-0 to the USA), and Republic of Ireland (losing 1-0 to Australia). However, Zambia (5-0 losers to Japan) and Morocco (6-0 losers to Germany) got overwhelmed in their matches as did Panama (4-0 to Brazil). Game two’s start tomorrow with Philippines taking on New Zealand in Wellington (12:30am CT, FS1/NBC Universo)
4. USA OPENER: The finishing was wasteful at times, but Sophia Smith did come as advertised and it’s still a win good enough to be top of the group after one match as the Dutch could only win by the odd goal against Portugal. The finishing will need to improve on Wednesday, though, against Netherlands (8pm CT, FOX/Telemundo).
5. FUN FACTS ABOUT VAR!: Five of the eight penalties awarded in the first eight matches of this World Cup came via VAR. It has also disallowed one goal for offside, overturned an offside for a goal, and changed a yellow card to a red card.
6. SURPRISES SO FAR: France held by Jamaica is the biggest thus far. Canada being held by Nigeria is a close second.
7. SAM KERR: That’s a hard luck story for Kerr and Australia, especially since she is one of the best strikers in the World and the World Cup is in her home country. If Australia does win against Nigeria on Thursday, then that’s less pressure on Kerr against Canada later in the tournament. Hopefully, all of Australia’s luck points weren’t used at the Ashes where the rain essentially allowed Australia to retain that trophy.
That’s all for now. More later.
